What people were saying was that China Jade Restaurant in Waterford was caught serving a mouse fetus or some kind of rodent in a patron's food.

Someone even called The Oakland Press around that time urging an investigation.

It isn't true, say the owners, and they're ready to fight back.

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Steve Hung operates the Waterford restaurant with his parents, Hoi and Sue Hung. He said business has fallen off about 25 percent in the past month because of the rumor.

The restaurant has been a neighborhood spot for Chinese food for almost 40 years.

"The hoax has been listed on various social media outlets -- Facebook, Instagram," said Hung, restaurant manager. "The (mouse with rice) image has been floating around the Internet for many weeks now, and each time it pops up, it's attributed to a different restaurant in a different city."

The circulated photo shows a mouse with rice on a plate, which Hung said is obviously doctored.

The hoax also has been around for years, as shown by a search of "PSA the rat fetus" online.

Staff at The Oakland Press brought up the same warning about a Chinese restaurant in Texas and another in Pennsylvania.

On the hoax-slayer.com website, writers state that "this hoax is just another manifestation of a long-standing urban legend that unfairly maligns Asian restaurants. Vague stories about cats or rats being used as a secret substitute for chicken at Chinese eateries have circulated for many years.

"There is the yarn about the town where a lot of pet cats have gone missing until the mystery is solved when sanitation workers find cat skeletons in the local Chinese restaurant garbage bins. Another tells of the suspicious Asian restaurant patron who takes a sample of his 'chicken' to be analyzed only to discover that he or she has been eating cat or rat or another animal that Westerners would not normally consider eating. These stories are almost always passed around orally and are never substantiated."

Hung said the restaurant has a clean record with the Oakland County health inspectors. A check of the latest Oakland County Health Division food service inspection report, dated Aug. 24, 2012, indicated the restaurant had no violations.

"We have always fared very well with the health department. It's sad that there's still such ignorance going around," Hung said.

Hung alerted the health department and police department about the rumor.

"We will use all legal means to safeguard our rights, and sue any slander in court and also keep the right of taking future action to any slander," he said.

"Remember not everything you read on Facebook -- or the Internet in general -- is real," said Hung.

"Before you post to any other social site, please do a little investigating to determine the validity of the picture or story," he said. "It's not fair to innocent people and businesses."

Long-time customer John Nevarez -- who grew up in Pontiac and now lives in Waterford -- has eaten at the restaurant 30 years.

"I've never had problems," said Nevarez, 44. "They give you options to eat healthy. I go there once or twice a week to get carryout."

He's angry about the rumor.

"It's sad people are so bored with their lives that they do this. These people have built this business and slanderous statements can affect their whole livelihood."

Contact Carol Hopkins at 248-745-4645 or carol.hopkins@oakpress.com. Follow her on Twitter @OPCarolHopkins or on Facebook @OPcarolhopkins.